Protesters abuse congresspeople, shouting homophobic/racist slurs.

Barney Frank, one of my personal heroes, is one of the few politicians left that truly give a damn about the people. I wish people would stop seeing him as a gay politician, but a politician that just happens to be gay.

 

has to make you think are people worth helping when they are so blinded and idiotic to act as they do.

 

This is the kind of ignorant, boneheaded stuff that can sometimes make me embarrassed to be from this country. :bang:

 

As much as I don't like Barney Frank for the large role he played in our current financial predicament, this is a manifestation of what is wrong with a sizable segment of the population. People can't simply disagree like rational human beings anymore, instead we have people whose political ideals are fed by hate, fear, and irrationality.

What I consider to be almost more worrisome than the anti-gay words being used is the fact racial slurs are being thrown at the black Congressmen. Not that verbal harassment towards gays isn't frightening, but it isn't totally unheard of in today's society. On the other hand, racism has become generally unacceptable. (I realize there is still a very minor part of the population that this isn't true for.) To see this unfortunately supports what I have believed all along, which is that most of the "tea-party" people are pushing an agenda not only rooted in fear, but in racism.

I have to say that seeing things like this, while frightening, is a good reminder to everyone that racism and hatred towards gays does still exist. I may not be on board with most of Barney Frank's agenda, but I would proudly stand next to him as a show of support while people spit at him and called him a faggot or a homo.

 

i find homophobia jsut as worrying if not more than racism. theres still racism today thre allways will eb same with anything but its looked upon by the majority as stupid where as homophobia is still 50/50 which often feels like 60/40 to them.

 

why are there so many people opposed to this whole health care thing? Isn't free health care and free hospital care a good thing? It works over here why not there

 

I'm with you Connor. Yes, it can cause some debt, but really.. if a country's population is mostly middleclass or lower than middleclass, I think you guys need a national healthcare policy. It's worked in Canada and we're not more in debt than the USA.

 

At the risk of this turning into a political discussion (because I’ve grown to dislike talking politics online and on this issue passions are particularly strong), most people are happy with their healthcare and don’t want it to change and fear this bill will adversely effect it. While there are a number of aspects of healthcare where there is broad agreement (very few people want poor children to die because their parents can’t afford to pay for treatment), there is a lot of disagreement about how the system should be structured. I should point out that there is no such thing as free healthcare. I’ll be happy when the debate is over because it has really brought out the worst in everyone.

 

Great post Emberstone. I'm actually quite surprised that protesters would even be allowed in the Capital during such a heated debate. Seems really unsafe and by the news reports of what's happening with the "teabaggers", its actually quite terrifying. I wouldn't want to be there.